This invention relates to a cable mounting bracket for use in releasably mounting a cable stub to the frame of a central office connector terminal block which also provides for easily changing the direction in which the cable stub extends from the frame.
While the invention may be useful in a variety of applications, the ensuing description will be facilitated by specific reference to the problem of easily changing the direction of the cable stub mounted to the cable mounting bracket.
Telephone terminal blocks are commonly installed in buildings which are serviced by numerous telecommunication lines. Such telephone terminal blocks are commonly referred to as central office connectors since the telephone lines are brought into the central area for the entire office and connected into one telephone terminal block or group of blocks. These central office connectors, which are an assembly of cables, electrical connectors and other hardware, are usually installed in specific areas within the central office. This area can be needed to install and direct incoming outside plant cable.
In many office settings, such as in large buildings, many terminal blocks may be installed within the same area so as to consolidate the telecommunications services. Usually, at least one multi-wired telecommunications service cable is connected to each central office connector. These large service cables may be comprised of one hundred or more individual conductor wires which are to be connected to a terminal block as prescribed by the needs of the telecommunications user.
To expedite the installation of such central office connectors, the terminal blocks are often prefabricated to the extent that all of the wire-runs to the appropriate terminal connectors are prewired according to the customer's specifications and all wires are terminated in a cable stub prior to installation in the customer's building. Such a prefabricated central office connector allows for simplified installation by merely installing the prefabricated central office connector and connecting the multi-conductor cable stub to the appropriate incoming and/or outgoing cable. The cable stub may also be preconnectorized if desired.
Typically, the large multi-conductor cable stub is mounted to the frame of the central office connector during the prefabrication process with an downwardly directed cable end. The downwardly directed orientation of the multi-conductor cable is used because this is the most common cable entry orientation in a telecommunications service installation. However, some service installations, due to space constraints or installation requirements, dictate that the downwardly directed orientation of the multi-conductor cable stub be changed to a upwardly directed orientation.
Reorientation of the multi-conductor cable stub is a problem for most prior art central office connectors. Hence, most prior art connectors use several removable clamps to hold the cable stub to the connector frame. The brackets used to hold the cable to the frame have loose hardware comprised of a threaded fastener which is removed from a nut or a threaded aperture in the connector frame in order to remove the clamps and change the orientation of the multi-conductor cable. Changing the orientation of the multi-conductor cable is difficult in locations where the amount of space in which an installer operates is limited. This difficulty is exacerbated by the fact that loose hardware and removable clamps sometimes fall off of the central office connector and must be located and attempted to be removed from cramped areas or worse, may be lost or unaccessible in the restrictive confines of some installation locations.
In an attempt to solve these problems, a rotatably pivotable bracket was designed to allow the multi-conductor cable stub to be rotatably pivoted while securely held within a bracket which was attached to the central office connector frame. Even though this device has captive hardware, and therefore reduces the possibility and problem of losing hardware, it creates several other problems. First, the multi-conductor cable stub which attaches to the rotatably pivotable bracket is held in an essentially fixed position relative to the frame. This fixed position of the cable stub often places excessive stresses on the individual wires attached to the central office connectors when the cable is rotated from one direction to another. Such excessive stress could result in conductor failure.
Another problem with the rotatably pivotable bracket is that it is a very expensive piece of hardware to fabricate and contains movable parts which increases the possibility of damage or misuse of the bracket. The rotatably pivotable bracket is expensive since it is made of a die-cast angle portion and a die-cast frame mounting portion which has a grooved sleeve mounted therebetween to facilitate rotation. If for some reason the ball bearings within the bracket malfunction, it would be impossible to pivot the cable into a different position.